Tag: TotallyAwesome

Global digital behaviour aggregator company SQREEM Technologies had recently acquired contextual digital advertising platform TotallyAwesome, which will see TotallyAwesome’s extensive reach of over 900 million users and human-curated whitelists be integrated into SQREEM’s proprietary AI technology.

Through the acquisition, the pair will form the largest behaviour audience repository on the planet, reaching over 2.4 billion consumers in 80 countries. With the acquisition being a significant industry move in terms of providing safe contextual advertising options for advertisers not only in Asia-Pacific but also globally, what’s behind-the-scenes of this acquisition move from SQREEM and what new offerings can the industry expect?

For our latest Top Story feature, MARKETECH APAC spoke exclusively to Ian Chapman-Banks, chief executive officer at SQREEM to better understand their goal of acquiring TotallyAwesome, and what’s next for SQREEM in terms of offering new advertising solutions to new markets globally.

Broadened product offering and leveraged synergies

For Ian, the acquisition of TotallyAwesome significantly adds value to SQREEM by expanding its market reach to include youth and family demographics, bolstering its technological capabilities, and broadening its competitive edge with more comprehensive advertising solutions. 

“This acquisition brings new clients and cross-selling opportunities, creating additional revenue streams. Operational synergies from the integration lead to streamlined processes, strengthening SQREEM’s position as a leading behavioural aggregator. It also fosters new product development, driving innovation, and enhances SQREEM’s brand reputation and market credibility,” he said.

When asked what are the main factors that contributed to SQREEM’s acquisition of TotallyAwesome, Ian listed five factors–enhancing capabilities in targeted youth advertising, expanding market presence, leveraging synergies, strategic growth, and broadening product offering.

Speaking of enhanced capabilities, he notes that as TotallyAwesome specialises in youth digital media and family-friendly advertising, this will allow SQREEM to expand its reach in this specific demographic. Moreover, this complements SQREEM’s existing capabilities in behavioural aggregation and targeted advertising, enabling more precise and effective campaigns tailored to younger audiences.

“TotallyAwesome’s established presence in the youth and family advertising sector provides SQREEM with immediate access to a new customer base and market segment. This helps diversify SQREEM’s portfolio and strengthens its market position. The integration of TotallyAwesome’s user base with SQREEM’s AI-driven insights creates synergies that can enhance the performance and efficiency of their combined solutions. This includes improved targeting, better customer insights, and more effective and ethical ad placements,” he further explained.

Lastly, Ian notes that by acquiring TotallyAwesome, SQREEM can accelerate its growth trajectory and scale more rapidly, aligning with its goal to become a billion-dollar unicorn by 2026.

Improving advertising compliance, safety standards

For Ian, one of the biggest benefits of acquiring TotallyAwesome is how it has developed proper industry measures and solutions that include youth and family-focused advertising, content creation, and stringent compliance with safety standards like COPPA and GDPR–across it own suite of products.

“In APAC, SQREEM faces challenges such as navigating the diverse regulatory environments across different countries, each with its own data privacy laws and standards for protecting young users, like COPPA and GDPR. Ensuring compliance while maintaining effective engagement can be complex and resource intensive,” he remarked.

Some of TotallyAwesome’s solutions include contextual advertising expertise which can offer privacy-compliant, cookie-free advertising solutions, crucial for targeting youth safely and effectively; as well as ensuring safe and relevant ad placements across diverse channels like apps, gaming, and social media.

Ian also understands that despite many nuances on cultural differences and varying levels of digital literacy in terms of driving safe and effective advertising solutions in APAC, there is still a great deal of opportunities in the region. He adds that the region boasts one of the largest and most digitally engaged youth populations in the world. Moreover, he notes that this demographic is highly active on social media and other digital platforms, making it a prime target for innovative, youth-focused advertising campaigns. 

“By leveraging TotallyAwesome’s expertise in creating safe, compliant, and engaging content for young audiences, SQREEM can provide brands with effective tools to reach this lucrative market. Furthermore, the integration of TotallyAwesome’s programmatic advertising solutions with SQREEM’s AI and data analytics capabilities can enhance the precision and effectiveness of campaigns, offering brands unprecedented insights and engagement opportunities with the youth demographic in APAC,” he stated.

Strengthening cookie-less solutions and other advertising offerings

Amidst continued industry movement towards privacy-centric advertising solutions, Ian has stressed SQREEM’s commitment to enhancing its cookie-less solutions to better serve its partners and clients in the APAC region. For him, by leveraging advanced AI-powered behavioural analytics, SQREEM can accurately identify user patterns and preferences without relying on cookies.

“To ensure privacy and compliance, SQREEM integrates first-party data from clients while adhering to regional privacy regulations like GDPR and PDPA. Strengthening industry alliances and collaborating with key players allows SQREEM to develop and promote cookie-less standards tailored to the APAC market,” he said.

Ian also noted how technological upgrades, such as enhanced machine learning models and robust cross-device tracking, had enabled SQREEM to understand user behaviour through non-cookie-based signals, providing a comprehensive view of user journeys across devices. Moreover, innovative solutions like predictive analytics and scalable personalisation techniques further enhance user engagement and conversion rates.

“To support clients in transitioning to cookie-less solutions, SQREEM offers workshops, training sessions, and ongoing resources. Clear performance metrics and transparent reporting demonstrate the effectiveness of cookie-less campaigns compared to traditional methods,” he said.

He further added, “SQREEM aims to provide robust, privacy-compliant, and effective cookie-less solutions, ensuring its partners and clients in APAC can continue to achieve their marketing goals in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”

What’s next for SQREEM globally?

Following the acquisition of TotallyAwesome, Ian had already hinted on his LinkedIn post that SQREEM aims to expand its presence and offerings to other markets, including in the Middle East and Latin America. For this, we asked: what’s the roadmap for this?

“Our recent acquisition, TotallyAwesome, will play a pivotal role in this expansion. TotallyAwesome offers a managed service for the curation of whitelists and safe, compliant activation for children and parents. This service will be crucial in rapidly building whitelists in the four largest markets in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and UAE) and LATAM (Brazil and Mexico). These markets, characterized by a high percentage of young people, present significant opportunities for growth,” Ian explained.

He also noted that SQREEM already had a presence in the Middle East and LATAM regions through direct sales and distribution partners, and for them leveraging this existing infrastructure, SQREEM plans to scale up its operations by enhancing its local market capabilities.

“We are already operationally ready to expand, having set up channels in key cities like Rio and São Paulo during recent visits. This groundwork ensures that SQREEM is well-prepared to leverage its partnerships and distribution capabilities to penetrate these markets effectively,” he concluded.

Singapore – Singapore-headquartered SQREEM Technologies, a global digital behaviour aggregator company, has announced its definitive acquisition of Singapore’s TotallyAwesome, a contextual digital advertising platform specialising in youth marketing in the Asia-Pacific region.

The deal will integrate TotallyAwesome’s extensive reach of over 900 million users and human-curated whitelists with SQREEM’s proprietary AI technology to produce enhanced, precision-targeted web environments for young users and their families, significantly increasing safety in ad placements. 

Together, the pair will form the largest behaviour audience repository on the planet, reaching over 2.4 billion consumers in 80 countries.

Moreover, the acquisition strategically positions SQREEM to navigate the complex landscape of ethical youth marketing, especially as global conversations increasingly emphasise the responsible use of AI in targeting vulnerable audiences. 

By extending SQREEM’s product suite to include comprehensive, age-appropriate solutions, the purchase combines SQREEM’s advanced AI-driven behavioural database and TotallyAwesome’s robust understanding of youth audiences and their digital experiences across 14 key Asia-Pacific markets, offering brands and agencies an unparalleled ability to reach millions of young consumers and parents in a safe and compliant way.

The combined tech stack of SQREEM and TotallyAwesome will be accessible on a unified full-service platform, offering agencies significant cost reductions and improved operational margins. TotallyAwesome’s existing team, approximately 100 strong across key markets including Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Melbourne and Sydney will merge with SQREEM’s global workforce to streamline operational processes and expand market reach, enhancing efficiency and market competitiveness.

Ian Chapman-Banks, CEO of SQREEM, said, “SQREEM now offers the most comprehensive solution for advertising agencies and brands seeking to connect with youth audiences ethically and effectively. Our combination of tech and expertise will demonstrate how brands can precisely tailor their engagement with kids, teens and families while prioritising safety and trust.”

Meanwhile, Raja Kanniappan, CEO of TotallyAwesome, commented, “SQREEM’s acquisition of TotallyAwesome perfectly aligns with our strategy of curating high value audiences without cookies, drawing on our 9+ years of experience in marketing to kids, teens and families – and our more recent 18+ audience offering. With SQREEM’s cutting-edge AI technology solving the industry-wide challenge of activating against cookie-free intent-based audience segmentation, this union significantly strengthens both companies across all industry sectors.”

Singapore –  Around 50% of Gen Alpha and 43% of Gen Z in APAC cited gaming as making them feel better if they’re anxious or stressed, according to the new research conducted by youth-first marketing and media platform TotallyAwesome. 

Based on the data, Gen Alpha and Gen Z consider gaming a better way to relieve their stress and anxiety as compared to talking to family members (28% and 21%, respectively), as well as talking to friends (28% and 32%, respectively). 

These trends are impacting several markets in APAC, where Vietnam came out on top with 60% of Gen Z youth turning to gaming to ease their anxiety and stress, followed by the Philippines and Malaysia at 56%, South Korea at 49%, and Singapore and Malaysia both at 47%. 

The research also reveals how gaming has become gender agnostic, especially amongst Gen Alpha, where 46% of girls use gaming to relieve anxiety, which is extremely close to boys, who sit at 54%.

Furthermore, Gen Alpha (52%) and Gen Z (48%) cite gaming as a way to feel more connected with their friends and family. This data is especially relevant for parents, who hold purchasing power when it comes to these demographics.

The youth in APAC are increasingly placing more value in gaming compared to other channels when building connections. However, the expansion of the commercial gaming industry influences streaming services as well, underscoring heightened participation among the youth who are exploring the gaming ecosystem for content. 

The research reveals that the big players are still dominant across APAC, with 77% of Gen Alpha and 76% of Gen Z citing YouTube as their most used streaming channel, compared to only 6% and 8% going to Twitch.

TotallyAwesome’s Youth-first Digital Insights highlight the impact of these nascent trends on advertisers in the region. APAC is the world’s largest gaming market, with total revenues exceeding US$84b in 2022. 

The data revealed in this study presents a significant prospect for tapping into the market’s potential by connecting with these consumers through well-thought-out advertising approaches that effectively connect with the younger demographics of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Will Anstee, TotallyAwesome’s executive chairman, said, “Our Youth-first Digital Insights underscores the gaming industry’s profound influence on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. When it comes to forging a sense of community and self-expression, young people are increasingly looking to gaming as the most important space for social bonding. Gaming is no longer just gaming – it’s their new social.”

“Our extensive research shows that parents are more digitally literate than ever and are increasingly concerned with cyberbullying, highlighting a demand for safe online environments that provide an outlet for positive play. Brands need to be brave and step into gaming in a way that considers the myriad concerns and needs Youth have. These rich insights help Brands and media agencies alike to gain a better understanding of young people’s appetites and how best to support their passions,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Raja Kanniappan, TotallyAwesome’s newly appointed chief executive officer, commented, “TotallyAwesome has been conducting our Youth-first Digital Insights for 8 years. We have built a deep understanding of the attitudes and behaviours of youth across Asia Pacific. We work with marketers and media agencies to take these rich insights and learnings to enable Brands to connect with Youth in a safe, relevant and effective way. If you want to capture the hearts and minds of Youth and build meaningful and long-lasting relationships – you need to get into gaming. It’s their now and their future.”

Singapore – TotallyAwesome, a digital advertising network for kids, teens, and families–has recently announced its fundraising efforts amounting to US$10m, which the company will use to expand its proprietary data-driven managed and programmatic offerings.

The funding round was led by San Francisco-based Partners For Growth and Singapore-based boutique investment growth advisory firm Yefira Group.

TotallyAwesome will also use the funding to solidify its position in a space where it has first-mover advantage, while expanding its footprint across key strategic markets such as Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Australia.

The ad network enables a youth-safe digital ecosystem by curating the largest supply of media inventory for brands to engage with more than 500 million monthly active under 18-users across APAC, safely. 

Will Anstee, CEO of TotallyAwesome, said, “It gives me great confidence that ‘Venture Capital for good’ is gaining greater traction in our world at large and TotallyAwesome met that brief for both institutions. Additionally, the importance of cultural fit was at the top of my list when looking for both equity and debt partners. To this end, both PFG and the Yefira Group are a perfect match. Exciting times ahead.”

The investment marks the company’s second major announcement in recent weeks, having previously unveiled TotallyPlay, the industry’s largest brand safe gaming platform for brands to engage with Asia-Pacific’s 450 million plus under-18 gamers.

Through this new funding round, the company aims to rewrite the current brand value exchange in the APAC region – by investing in product development to evolve its enterprise advertising platform, ramp up hiring across its sales, data science and machine learning teams, as well as exploring strategic mergers and acquisitions to accelerate growth.

Singapore – Kid-centric digital advertising platform TotallyAwesome has recently launched its largest brand-safe gaming platform ‘TotallyPlay’ in Asia-Pacific, allowing brands and advertisers to connect with gamers in Singapore and in the region aged under 18.

Through the platform, it bridges the gap between greater content utility for brands and the experience of play with gamers through managed and programmatic offerings within specific youth audience segments. 

TotallyPlay’s mission is to provide an unbiased and science-backed approach, with a focus on human interpretation, best-in-class exclusive media partnerships, and brand safety. Whether it’s a hand-selected in-game marketing deployment, rewarded video in a mobile game, pre-rolls on around popular gaming YouTubers, a custom integration within a virtual world, or an in-stream placement during a gaming tournament, the platform enables marketers to meaningfully connect with the industry.

TotallyPlay’s gaming platform is able to deliver the largest and best-in-class media supply across APAC without the need for third-party online data, giving marketers a platform to navigate industry sea changes such as Google’s plans to disable third-party cookies next year.

This supply includes safer advertising formats in-game, whether that’s in the form of an in-game banner and rewarded video formats, exclusive branded character skins, or even an official partnership with a brand or developer. Then, it’s about partnerships and collaborations with creators, influencers and other media around the game. And lastly, thinking beyond the game, it’s the partnerships and curated experiences with partners like official esports tournaments, athletes, or in forms of brand experiences built in other virtual environments.

Will Anstee, CEO of TotallyAwesome commented on the launch, “TotallyPlay is about providing the advertising backdrop for positive gameplay to thrive, collaborating with interested brands, and backed by media metrics to prove or disprove each channel’s effectiveness for their campaigns. In short, we’re the only agnostic player in the game, forgive the pun.” 

He added, “Beyond creating highly curated age-appropriate, brand-safe environments, we’re fully invested in the mission to support a safer online future for under-18s and are fascinated by the future of gaming and the possibilities for safe and responsible gameplay to flourish. As we know the region’s biggest brands feel the same, our role is to connect them with this multi-hundred billion-dollar industry with meaning and utility at scale, with the best ROI their media dollars can buy. It’s now a no-brainer.”

Singapore – TotallyAwesome, digital media network for GenZ and families, has launched a new programmatic digital platform called TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground. The new platform allows APAC advertisers to reach children under the age of 18 in brand-safe environments at scale.

Marketing professionals have long been unable to connect with teenagers and young adults in a brand-safe, scalable environment despite the fact that they are increasingly in charge of household purchasing decisions such as vacations, automobiles, beauty products, auto repair, and technology. TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground aims to provide a solution to this difficulty.

Using a custom data filter that prevents PII-sensitive data from being collected and transferred in the bid request, TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground leverages and optimises over 200 interest categories of Under 18s passion points to create sophisticated audience segments to responsibly engage with this hard-to-reach audience.

Unlike most programmatic solutions, TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground engages with its audience contextually via over 7,000 verified brand-safe media inventory formats including apps, websites and games to deliver over 300 million monthly active online users under 18’s across Asia Pacific. It does not collect any data or personal identifying information (PII).

Powered by TotallyAwesome’s Curation and Moderation Platform (CaMP cloud-based tool) that has ingested over millions of brand-safe media ad units, publishers and contextual environments. All inventory is vetted and qualified by human moderators including teenagers in the local language to guarantee brand safe and ad fraud free inventory.

The TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground is compliant with both COPPA and GDPR data privacy guidelines and regulations, and is a member of the kidSAFE Seal Program. The company follows the most advanced Government regulations protecting kids’ data and privacy. A resident practising psychologist advises on what is age appropriate and consequently helps shape its products and develop bespoke research solutions.

Will Anstee, CEO of TotallyAwesome, commented that they  are extremely proud to bring the world’s first programmatic solution to safely engage with an Under 18 audience to market in Asia Pacific.

“TotallyAwesome is passionate about helping brands reach audiences under 18 years-old in an age-appropriate, brand safe environment,” Anstee said.

Anstee added, “We’ve invested significant time and resources to create this world-first solution that enables brands and agencies to engage with this powerful and influential audience with meaning and utility at scale, in a protected environment.”

Florian Schwinn, programmatic lead at TotallyAwesome, commented, “The TotallyAwesome Programmatic Playground combines a best-in-class contextual discovery platform with privacy compliant technology and informed human insight to create a world-first solution.”

“We’re delighted to be able to provide a safe and efficient environment to enable brands and their agencies to build powerful Private Market Places (PMP’s) to responsibly engage with this audience,” Schwinn adds.

Indonesia – TotallyAwesome, the largest kids-safe digital advertising and content platform in the APAC region, has appointed Ridwan S Hidayat, former client services director at global data and measurement-driven media agency Essence, to be its new country manager in Indonesia.

Hidayat brings with him extensive experience from his previous senior media agency positions. Besides his former role in Essence, he has also worked as the senior media and production manager at Kraft Heinz‘s food and drink subsidiary Kraft Heinz ABC, the group head at media company Mindshare, and the senior media planner at marketing agency Armananta Group.

Commenting on his appointment, Hidayat said that he is very excited to be leading TotallyAwesome in the country and contributing to high-quality interaction between brands and young audiences.

“TotallyAwesome is a unique media business with a focus on helping kids and families connect with brands through safe and private interaction. Helping protect our youngest internet audiences and their families in the digital environment is a big focus for government and business,” said Hidayat.

Meanwhile, TotallyAwesome APAC’s CEO Will Anstee, commented that Hidayat’s credentials to lead TotallyAwesome have been shaped by his client service and planning experience.

“As the digital world evolves, there is a growing need for human assessment and guidance in how brands reach out to digital audiences, especially our Indonesia youth that make up over 30% of the population. We need to protect them and ensure brands are stepping up to play a more meaningful role in their lives. Ridwan will lead this for us in Indonesia. I’m excited and proud to have him join us on this journey,” said Anstee.

The digital platform provides a safe digital environment for children and their families to interact with child-focused products on the internet while acknowledging and supporting the world’s most advanced regulations protecting kids’ data privacy. In Indonesia, TotallyAwesome has been active since 2015 and has an audience of 35.2 million monthly active users.

Earlier this year, TotallyAwesome announced other new appointments, namely Mikio Kudo, the new country manager in Japan, and James Sawyer, the new managing director of AUNZ operations.

Japan – TotallyAwesome, the largest kids-safe digital advertising and content platform in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, has announced that it will be expanding its market presence in Japan to further reach the hard-to-get audiences.

Following this endeavor, the business has also hired Mikio Kudo, former country president of toy brand Mattel, to be its new country manager in Japan. He will be supported by new senior appointments at TotallyAwesome in the coming months.

Kudo brings with him 20 years of experience in marketing and media. He has previously worked as the executive director for commercial broadcasting company Turner Japan KK and media sales manager for financial software giant Bloomberg LP. Kudo specializes in managing licensing deals, original content sales, and advertising sales.

Commenting on Kudo’s appointment, Will Anstee, the CEO of TotallyAwesome, said that this is a huge strategic win for TotallyAwesome as Kudo is a rare talent who understands both the client and publisher sides in a complex market like Japan, enabling the business to execute superior engagement strategies for our clients’ competitive edge. 

“I couldn’t be more excited and optimistic for the future of the business, but more importantly, our continued ambition to make the internet safe and compliant for brands and Japanese youth online,” added Anstee.

The digital platform is an advanced forum for kids, teens, co-viewing families, and brands to safely interact across thousands of apps, games, and websites, enabling a youth-safe ecosystem across APAC. In Japan, TotallyAwesome has an audience of 17 million internet users aged six to 18 years old, as well as two million families that view the internet as a family unit.

Australia – TotallyAwesome, the largest kids-safe digital advertising, and content platform in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, has appointed James Sawyer, former managing partner of media agency Ikon Communications, as its new managing director for the platform’s Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations.

The digital platform is an advanced forum for kids, teens, co-viewing families, and brands to safely interact across thousands of apps, games, and websites, enabling a youth-safe ecosystem across APAC.

The appointment will see Sawyer leading TotallyAwesome ANZ’s media and content team, helping clients and media agencies connect with kids, teens, and their families through the platform. He brings with him 20 years of experience in Australian media.

Commenting on his appointment, Sawyer said that leading TotallyAwesome ANZ to its next phase is a career changer for him and that he’s looking forward to joining the business. 

He added, “As the industry moves away from cookie-based targeting TotallyAwesome is poised for growth through its visionary kid-safe technology and privacy-compliant digital ecosystem. This ensures a safe environment for young audiences to engage with branded content.”

Meanwhile, Will Anstee, the CEO of TotallyAwesome APAC, commented, “James is the ideal executive for this key role. He is a highly respected media leader with finely tuned analytical, performance leadership, and partnership skills. The business in ANZ and across APAC has enormous growth potential and James will play a vital role in helping us realize this potential.”

The platform has also announced other new hires, namely Amanda Abel, the new pediatric psychologist, and Alice Almeida, the new regional head of data, as well as Jo-Ann Yeoh, the new head of account and project management.